[Long Cut]

Since 1979, there have been more and ever-increasing acts of war against our nation. Sadly, they have been ignored by Republican as well as Democrat politicians.

Beirut in '83. We lost an embassy AND 241 Marines. An act of war.

TWA 847. yet again.

Pan Am 103, ditto.

Mogadishu, '93

WTC '93.

Khobar Towers.

Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, '98.

The USS COLE, 2000.

There can be little doubt that had we utterly crushed Iran under a bootheel, none of these would have occurred.

It was the Carter administration, and the herd of leftist cattle it brought to the Department of State, that enabled all of this.

Because of their utter uselessness, the Terrs, who until that point were merely scattered cells of disorganized radicals, were able to find succor in nation-states, organize into larger armies, obtain funding, and most importantly, nurture the idea of the US as a "paper tiger" that was unwilling to respond, and that would simply crumble.

The really frightening thing is, had UBL not so overreached on Black Tuesday, this sad, disgraceful chain of events would have continued, perhaps until we lost an entire city.

As Americans, we enjoy the highest standard of living in the world. There is a downside of that, however...it is that we are VERY reluctant to upset our easy living for something as brutal and unpleasant as war, however justified. Also, we are easily distracted and lulled back to sleep by frivolous things.

[livius]

Before there was Mogadishu, there was Jimmeh on TV crying about the crash of the helicopters trying to rescue the hostages. He gave up and didn't try again, thereby making it clear that it took relatively little to make us throw up our hands and go away. So each provocation was just a bit stronger than the one before, and we still did nothing, because Jimmeh had set the pattern.

You're right, Americans are very reluctant to face the hard reality that we have to fight to keep what we have. That's what a leader is supposed to do, remind us of this and keep us focused on doing it, but I'd say we've had few - well, no - leaders until GWB came along. That's one of the reasons they hate him so much.

[Grampa Dave]

Amen! Unfortunately only a few Americans realize the role of Iran in Islamokazi terrorism the past two decades. You summed it up very well:

"There can be little doubt that had we utterly crushed Iran under a bootheel, none of these would have occurred."

"It was the Carter administration, and the herd of leftist cattle it brought to the Department of State, that enabled all of this.